Defending the West: Truth Begets Hate

We have now gotten to the irreconcilable point in the contemporary public discourse (or lack thereof) of irrefutable denial of the reality of the jihad threat. This denial persists no matter what. Newscasters (both local and national) spout a language of the absurd denying all connection of jihad with – jihad.

The Fort Hood jihadi, Nidal Malik Hasan, describes himself as a mujahid (holy warrior) in the cause of Islam, but we are told that his act of war (and he uses that word – war) has nothing to do with Islam. The Boston Marathon jihad bombers repeatedly explain that their bombing was an attack designed to “defend Islam,” but we are told that it had more to do with a right-wing conspiracy or the desperation of two dejected youth, immigrants who had trouble making American friends.

This past weekend, Ave Maria Radio is hosted a conference at Eastern Michigan University called “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?” The featured debate was Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, facing off against Shadid Lewis, regional director of the Muslim Debate Initiative in the U.S., on that very question: “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?”

Even the prospect of Spencer’s appearance had the usual suspects out for blood. Dawud Walid of the Michigan chapter of the Hamas-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, shrieked: “That’s not what we should be embracing coming out of Ramadan,” and urged Muslims not to attend the debate. Too bad Hamas-CAIR and other Muslim Brotherhood groups in the United States don’t address the spike in bombings and bloodshed that comes out of Ramadan.

In a Fox News Detroit segment addressing the resulting manufactured brouhaha over Spencer and the subject matter “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?,” Robert Muise, our attorney and co-founder of the American Freedom Law Center, appeared to defend the conference and Robert’s right to speak.

The Muslim that Muise debated, Victor Begg, lies through his teeth throughout the exchange. For him, it was an exercise in taqiyya, dodge and smear. He doesn’t respond to the questions asked of him. He says that Spencer must be bad, because he was banned from entering Britain, but his description of why Spencer and I were banned from Britain is a lie.

Begg claims that Spencer and I were banned from Britain because we “represented the worst form of bigotry.” The Home Secretary excluded us (and I quote) because our words might “justify terrorist violence,” which is essentially the British State’s recognition and sanction of Islamic violence. Begg trots out the uber-left Southern Poverty Law Center’s smear of our group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, as a “hate group.” Yet it was the SPLC’s hate group listing that led one of its followers, Floyd Corkins, to try to assassinate Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council.

The Fox News talking head interviewing Muise and Begg, Murray Feldman, was just as bad, insisting that the name of the conference itself, “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?,” constituted hate speech. He went on to incredulously assert, in the face of Muise’s information to the contrary, that the Boston bombing and the Fort Hood jihad had nothing to do with Islam. It was stunning. “Are you saying that there is an argument that Muslims are responsible for the Boston bombing?” asks Feldman in profound shock.

And it continued, each statement more devoid of reality than the last. The money quote was from the Muslim rep Begg: “Islam doesn’t shy away from debate.” Yes, that’s why they attempt to shut us down everywhere we go. I don’t know how Muise didn’t throw up. These savages speak whenever and wherever they want, but challenge the big lies and the manufactured myths, and you are in for a world of pain.

Then, after the debate, even though Spencer won resoundingly, the coverage was just as vicious as it had been before the event. The Detroit Free Press led off its story with this “A man who was banned from speaking in Britain because of his views on Islam faced off Saturday against a defender of that faith in a debate about whether Islam is a religion of peace.” The Detroit News likewise had nothing to say about Spencer having trained the FBI or written bestselling books – it just mentioned the British ban and other staples of the leftist smear campaign.

But it’s not just this local coverage. This collective break with reality is systemic in the media and left-wing circles of influence. Aristotle said that A is A. And it’s true – except when it concerns Islam. And this is not just confined to the media and academia. The Obama administration, as well as Obama’s cabinet and military brass, has submitted to this madness. Anyone in the Department of Defense who signed off on the Fort Hood final report labeling that act of war as “workplace violence” should be fired. But by whom? This war on the truth comes from the top.

The fable of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” would be fitting. Only in today’s version the little boy who calls out the truth wouldn’t be heralded and applauded; he’d be smeared, libeled and drawn and quartered.

But we were right. We are right. And the more we are proven right, the darker it gets. The great silence, the blacklist, the lies – all of it – will have the gravest of consequences.